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Talent moves ahead with renewal district By Tony Boom Updated: Jun 24, 2022 04:29 PM A A The new district is aimed at helping the city recover from the 2020 Almeda fire, but other local agencies stand to lose money The Talent Urban Renewal Agency’s board will consider forwarding a plan for creation of a new urban renewal district in a special meeting Wednesday, June 29. The board or a subcommittee will have met four times since June 21 to refine elements of the plan before the Wednesday session. Tentative timeline for adoption of the plan by Talent City Council calls for it to be in effect by Sept. 23. That would be shortly before the Jackson County assessor certifies the tax rolls, a deadline for creation of the district, which would receive its first revenue during the 2023-24 fiscal year. The new district would cover many areas in Talent that were burned in the September 2020 Almeda fire. Goals of the plan include helping the community recover from the conflagration. The area would cover about 212 acres, and the district would run for 30 years, until 2053. “The anticipation is that in the fiscal year 2024 you will actually have the funding to do a bond of $6.1 million in your initial year,” said Elaine Howard, the district’s consultant on the plan, during a June 21 board meeting. She said the agency could choose to support projects such as affordable housing or business assistance with the money. “For most urban renewal areas to get that amount of money up front is unheard of, but because of the timing of the rebuild that amount of money is available,” said Howard. The money comes from tax increment financing in which other taxing districts serving an area forego increases in revenue based on increases in assessed value, with that money going to urban renewal instead. Should a new district be adopted, it would start with a tax base value of $52 million based on Jan. 1, 2001 values, less than four months after Almeda fire. But that value will increase rapidly with the rebuilding going on. A report accompanying the draft plan shows an assessed value of $106 million in 2024, rising to $412 million by 2053. If the TURA board approves the plan, a briefing on it would be held with Jackson County July 19. The city’s Planning Commission would review it and make a recommendation July 26. A public hearing by the council and possible adoption would come Aug. 17, followed by a second reading and council vote to adopt Aug. 24. If approved, the plan would become effective Sept. 23. During the 30-day time period after council adoption, Talent residents could call for a public vote on the matter if sufficient signatures were collected. Jackson County Fire District No. 5 and Jackson County officials have expressed concerns over the amount of money they and other taxing districts would forgo if the new district is created. For the fire district, that amounts to nearly $17 million over 30 years, said fire Chief Charles Hanley. District 5 may need to seek a levy to support operations if the urban renewal district is created, said Hanley and fire district board Chair Vicki Purslow. The loss of revenue would affect personnel, equipment and building expenditures. “We have used FEMA assistance grants because of the loss of property tax revenues (from the fire). All of these are one-time funding sources intended to support us until our revenue comes back,” said Hanley. “Now our revenues will never come back.” Half of the structures in the proposed district that burned in the fire have been rebuilt or are under construction, said Hanley. That figure is expected to rise to 75% in another year. More than $10.5 million for housing in Talent was awarded by Oregon Housing and Community Services this month, Hanley noted. That includes $7.5 million to turn Talent Mobile Estates into an owner-run cooperative and $3.18 million to create 22 cottages for seniors on Suncrest Road. In addition, Jackson County jurisdictions are expected to receive the majority of $422 million in federal aid allocated to Oregon counties for recovery from the September 2020 fires, said Hanley. The city of Talent and Fire District 5 would give up the most revenue over the 30 years due to the tax increment funding. The city would forgo $16.9 million. Jackson County would forgo $10.6 million. Eight other districts would also be impacted. Phoenix-Talent School District would actually lose the most on paper, $22.3 million, but under state funding such losses are substantially replaced by the State School Fund. “It seems like we are liable to have some challenges to our plan from some special districts or the county,” said TURA board member David Pastizzo at the meeting. “I think it’s worth spending some of our time on concrete projects that might be appealing to some of the folks that haven’t bought into our urban renewal here.” In refining the plan, board members agreed that creating affordable housing should be the top priority. Second-highest priority would be assistance for commercial development. Working on resiliency and sustainability would be a third priority. The TURA board is composed of Talent City Council members and the mayor. Talent City Manager Jordan Rooklyn serves as agency executive director. TURA meetings are held online, with phone connection also available. Information on accessing the meetings can be found at www.talenturbanrenewal.com . Residents can sign up to speak at any TURA board meeting by sending an email to [email protected] or calling 541-535-1566, option 6. The June 29 meeting is at 5 p.m. Reach Ashland freelance writer Tony Boom at [email protected].